Wireless sensor networks have been around for 10 years or more but have not been widely adopted. A wireless sensor network is a spatially distributed network of autonomous sensing devices that cooperatively monitor physical or environmental conditions at different locations. Each node in the network has a wireless communications device in addition to its one or more sensors and energy source. Wireless sensor networks have many potential applications, including battlefield surveillance, environment and habitat monitoring, healthcare applications, home automation, security, and traffic control.
In currently available sensor networks, each node can cost $100 or more, limiting their large-scale deployment. In addition, typical nodes are battery powered which requires monitoring and periodic replacement of the battery. Needs exist for improved wireless sensor networks.
Buildings and homes waste billions of dollars of energy every year. Global climate change is considered by many to be the single greatest threat to the environment today. Many electronic devices, often referred to as Electronic Vampires, waste power by using electricity even when they are off. Electronic Vampires account for up to 10% of all energy usage and cost consumers and businesses up to 3.5 billion dollars a year. Electronic Vampires together with lights and computers that are left on and old inefficient appliances account for a significant amount of wasted energy. By reducing the amount of wasted energy in businesses by even 1%, we could save 140,000 barrels of oil or 40,000 tons of coal, preventing 27 million tons of CO2 from being released into the atmosphere every year.
The average user's only method of visualizing energy usage is to see a monthly power bill. The vast majority of buildings are not wired for energy monitoring and control. Even the intelligent buildings that use Lonworks or KNX systems do not allow control and monitoring of each socket in the building. Similarly, aftermarket devices can be purchased that allow monitoring of a single socket at that socket, but an ability to monitor numerous points from a single database to manage overall power consumption is not available. Such universal monitoring is precluded by the costs of instrumentation.
Needs exist for improved systems for energy usage measurement, visualization, and management.